Shoe sewing machines



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SHOE SEWING MACHINES Filed Jan. 9, 1952 18 ShGStSFShBet 18 Inventor A [fred 5'. Clark United States Patent O SHOE SEWING MACHINES Alfred S. Clark, Beverly, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 9, 1952, Serial No. 265,660

11 Claims. (Cl. i12-47) The present invention relates to improvements in shoe sewing machines, more particularly of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,542,993, granted February 27, 1951, upon application of the present inventor, in which a shoe upper, a sock lining attached to a rabbeted platform sole and a platform Wrapper or sole binding strip are sewn together with a seam passing through all `the parts except the platform sole,l the exposed threads of the seam appearing on the wrapper strip and on the sock lining within the rabbet of the sole.

The machine to which the vconstruction of the prior patent is applied is -a curved hook needle shoe outsole stitching machine intended for operation upon heavy sole material, the machine being provided with a curved hook needle and a curved work penetrating and feeding awl. The type of work intended to be operated upon by that machine as originally designed is of such thickness and rigidity that it is essential to employ an awl to form a perforation in the work for the subsequent passage of the needle and to feed the work. With rigid work the awl makes an effective work feeding instrument. However, the type of work on which the machines of both the prior patent and the present invention are intended to operate may include relatively light flimsy material such as cotton drill or other loosely woven fabric. In order to avoid cutting or fraying excessively the fibers in fabric so as to cause large numbers of loose projecting ends in the bers or other injury to the strength of the fabric, it is desirable to utilize a work penetrating instrument of much smaller gage than that employed in the. patented machine. With the use of a small gage awl, the awl loses a substantial proportion of its stiffness and so is subject to greater ilexure during work feeding movements with the result that stitches of irregular length may be formed or the work may be more diicult to control in its movement through the machine.

The work operated upon by the illustrated machine also is composed of flat sheet materials cut into blank shoe upper and sole forms with edges of dilerent curvatures shaped to predetermined patterns. The sole form comprises a thickness of resilient platform material with the sock lining attached thereto. In addition, the platform material is rabbeted along its edge to approximately one half of its thickness beneath the sock lining. The upper and sock lining projecting from the platform material are then sewed together with their edges of different curvatures in register, the patterns by which the parts are cut being such that the shape of the shoe is created during the sewing operation, no last being employed. It is because of the rabbet in the sole that a curved needle machine is required, particularly because it is essential to sew the upper to the s ock lining through that portion of the lining which projects from the sole above the rabbet without including the sole material below the rabbet. To accomplish proper register of differently curved edges on the parts, much skillful and attentive manipulation is required of the operator in presenting the parts to the machine.

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A further purpose of both the prior and present ma-Y chines is to attach a strip of wrapper or sole edge cover-` ing material also composed of light ilimsy leather or composition fabric to the shoe parts being operated upon.- The vattachment of a curved wrapper strip, together with the task of bringing the upper and sock lining edges into register, ordinarily would impose an almost insuperable burden on the operator. The operation heretofore hasV been performed so slowly that the expense of a specially designed machine may not be justified.

To lrelieve the burden on the operator of presenting all the parts in proper register to the machine of the prior patent, it is equipped with a feeder for assisting the operator in guiding the wrapper strip toward the sewingv point so `that he may give his full attention to the proper reglistration of the upper and sock lining edges only. The patented feeder comprises flat metal plates formed with toothed elements at their ends yieldingly engaging the wrapper strip. Such an arrangement acts to feed the strip effectively in a straight line and provides beneficial results when the wrapper strip itself is composed entirely of `straight strip material. If, however, the strip is of variable width and is curved in a manner to conform itself with a relatively high wedge heel on a shoe, such a feeder will not maintain the edge of the wrapper strip in proper register with the other parts of the shoe'and the advantage of the feeder in large measure fails.

lt is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved sewing machine for use in the manufacture of rabbeted platform type shoes in which the manipulation of the work by the operator is facilitated lto such an extent that the overhead expense and upkeep of a special machine designed for the purpose is economically feasible, the saving in speed of presenting the parts to the machine and the quality or workmanship obtainable justifying the effort directed toward machine irnprovements. A further object is to improve the work feeding action of a sewing machine adapted primarily for operation upon a rabbeted platform type of shoe in which the presentation of the shoe to the machine will require less skill and ability on the part of the operator than heretofore and in which the stitches of a seam connecting the upper to the sock lining will have greater holding power and will be inserted without any tendency to reduce the strength of the parts by fraying or improper spacing of stitches either from each other or from the edges of the parts.

A machine embodying the present invention is provided with a curved needle and `a work support disposed with its work engaging surface at an angle to that part of the needle path along which the needle engages the work to enable the needle to enter and emerge from a shoe upper and sock lining attached to the upper surface of a rabbeted platform sole without penetrating the sole, in which machine the work is securedk and fed by two separate clamps comprising a non-feeding presser foot and a feeding presser foot cooperating with non-feeding and feeding gage members arranged to fit within the rabbet of the platform sole beneath the upper and sock lining. By the use of separate clamps, one of which is stationary and the other of which feeds the parts operated upon, there is no possibility of displacement of the parts relatively to each other as with a machine having a work feeding awl.

This and other features of the invention are embodied in the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed, the advantages of which will readily be understood from the following detailed specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which l l Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation showing portions of a shoe being operated upon partly in section during presentation to a sewing machine embodying the features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan of the machine illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view in rear elevation of the machine;

Fig. 4 is a partially sectional view in side elevation looking from the left of the machine and omitting the shoe parts being operated upon;

Fig. 5 is a view in front elevation on an enlarged scale of the sewing head and a partial section of the work operated upon in the machine of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a view in left side elevation of the sewing head;

Fig. 7 is a View in rear elevation and partly in section of a portion of the sewing head;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the sewing head;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line IX-IX of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a sectional view of the machine taken along the line X-X of Fig. 8;

Fig. 11 is a detail view taken in elevation from the left, on a further enlarged scale, illustrating the principal stitch forming devices of the machine;

Fig. l2 is a detail view on a further enlarged scale in rear elevation of the stitch forming devices in the machine surrounding the sewing point, showing the needle at the limit of its work penetrating stroke;

Fig. 13 is a view in left side elevation of the same parts in the same positions taken from the line XIII-XIII of Fig. 12;

Fig. 14 is a View similar to that of Fig. 12 showing the needle as it is being retracted from the work;

Fig. l5 is a left side elevation of the' same parts taken from the line XV-XV of Fig. 14;

Fig. 16 is a partial sectional detail view in front elevation of the stitch forming devices about the sewing point showing the needle retracted from the work;

Fig. 17 is a partially sectional view in left side elevation of the parts illustrated in Fig. 16;

Fig. 18 is a sectional detail view of the needle and needle guide in the machine taken along the line XVIII-XVIII of Fig. 16;

Fig. 19 is a detail view in rear elevation of the stitch forming devices showing the needle in its fully retracted position;

Fig. 20 is a sectional detail view looking from the left of the parts in the positions illustrated in Fig. 19;

Fig. 2l is a perspective view, partly broken away and in section, of the stitch forming and work feeding devices of the machine surrounding the sewing point showing the positions corresponding to those of Figs. 19 and 20;

Fig. 22 is a plan view of a set of shoe parts such as is intended to be sewn on the machine of the invention;

Fig. 23 is a view in side elevation of a platform sole, with sock lining attached, having an upper partially sewed thereto;

Fig. 24 is a view in elevation of the same shoe parts together with a wrapper strip showing the relationship assumed after completing one side of the shoe with a portion of the wrapper strip included in the seam;

Fig. 25 is a side view of a shoe after the entire wrapper strip and upper have been sewed to the sock lining along the platform sole; and

Fig. 26 is a sectional View on an enlarged scale taken along the line XXVI-XXVI of Fig. 25.

The apparatus illustrated in the drawings is a curved eye-pointed needle lockstitch sewing machine of the type disclosed in inventors patent above identified which machine is intended to operate upon a shoe similar to that described in United States Letters Patent No. 2,546,152, granted March 27, 1951, upon application of J. D. Chandler. The shoe disclosed in these patents is f the platform type in which a sock lining is attached to a rabbeted platform sole above the rabbet and the edges of a precut upper are secured to the sock lining by a seam inserted along the inner face of the rabbet without including the platform sole. AFor binding the edge of the platform sole, a wrapper or platform cover strip also is attached to the edges of the upper and sock lining so that the strip may be lasted over the edges of the parts into overlapping relation with the bottom of the platform sole.

The machine of inventors prior patent is effective for sewing the parts of a shoe thus constructed when relatively iiat low heel shoes of uniform shape with no abrupt curvatures are operated upon, a straight wrapper or cover strip being effective for binding the edges in such shoes. If an attempt is made, however, to sew high heel shoes having abrupt lengthwise curvatures along the edges of the parts, the stitch forming and work feeding devices of that machine do not cooperate with each other effectively to produce the best results. Ditiiculty frequently is encountered in sewing high heel shoes in proper presentation of the upper to the sock lining while at the same time flexing the platform sole to which the sock lining is attached with a suicient degree of curvature to create the desired shape of the shoe. This diiculty is most troublesome when sewing along the inside shank of a shoe, the parts tending to pull loose from their operating position in the machine and to become so displaced that the needle in the machine fails to penetrate the parts at the proper points. This difficulty is partially the result of the manner in which the prior machine feeds the parts loperated upon through the use of a work feeding awl.

The prior patented machine is an adaptation of a wellknown form of sole sewing machine, similar to that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 473,870, granted April 26, 1892, in the names of French and Meyer and is equipped with a stationary clamp comprising a presser foot and a rabbet gage, the parts being retained upon a work guiding support. During feeding movements, the clamping action on the shoe parts is released so that the awl is the only instrument which retains them from displacement. Since there is a strong tenclency for the edges of the shoe parts to separate, the awl alone is insuflicient to prevent such separation and displacement.

According to an important feature of the present invention a completely new machine is provided which is constructed in a manner most effective for operation upon a rabbeted platform shoe with novel work clamping members in the machine acting to prevent displacement of the parts operated upon both during feed of the work and during formation of stitches. Thus, the use of a single work penetrating instrument such as an awl or similar work piercing instrument alone is no longer relied upon exclusively to feed and to retain the shoe operated upon from displacement during work feed, the other parts of the machine, including the stitch forming devices necessary to insert a seam connecting the sock lining and upper of a rabbeted platform shoe, cooperating effectively with the clamping and feeding devices.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 22 to 25, inclusive, of the drawings, the shoe operated upon comprises a semi-rigid platform sole 2 cut from a quarter inch layer of granulated cork composition and a sock lining 4 of flexible cotton drill material attached to the upper surface of the platform sole with its edges in registry with those of the sole, an upper 6 and a wrapper strip having a toe part 8 and a heel part 10 all connected together with stitches of a seam extending about the edges of the parts and intersecting them, with the exception of the platform sole. The toe part 8 is straight but the heel part 10 is of variable width and curvature to conform with a high heel of a high arch shoe. The platform sole directly beneath the sock lining is formed with a groove or rabbet 12 into which the seam allowances of the parts along their edges are folded when the wrapper strip is lasted about the platform sole, the rigidity of the platform solc 

